Love is in the air! And love is a word that always evokes the most wonderful of thoughts and feelings. Love is both very simple and so complex, right out there and has so many layers, and there are so many beautiful love words from around the world, and for the many different types of love as well.

Some languages have words for romantic love, the love between siblings or friends, parental love, the love for home or a thing, and so much more. There are words that specify the fond affection with which we think of an old love, or the feeling when we are separated from someone we love. Words for the joys when love first strikes, for unrequited love too, and the affection for someone you have known for a long while. So here are

13 Beautiful Love Words From Around the World

Let me tell you before I move on to languages other than English (including the ones I know and speak), that I do love the word ‘cherish!’ It has an almost magical quality about it (for me), and while you can apply it even to things or moments or memories, when you use it, it tugs at heartstrings. Now, on to the love words themselves.

Arabic: Ya Rouhi

I love this phrase ‘Ya Rouhi‘ which translates to ‘You’re my soul’ (rouh meaning soul in the language)

Danish: arbejdsglæde

arbejdsglæde. This is a whole different kind of love. The type that leaves you satisfied and joyous at your work and at the end of each day of work, for it actually refers to that feeling of satisfaction and joy that comes from loving your job

Hindi: vatsalya

While Hindi has many words for love, I am featuring the word vatsalya, derived from the Sanskrit vatsa, meaning child. Thus vatsyalya is parental love, the feeling of the parent towards the child. This is another language I grew up speaking, reading, and writing.

Irish: A Chuisle

A Chuisle. This beautiful expression translates to my pulse. It is a term of endearment taken from the phrase ‘A chuisle mo chroí‘, or “Pulse of my heart”. When you are speaking to the person who is the ‘pulse of your heart,’ you would use “A chuisle“. When speaking about them to someone else, you would use “Mo chuisle”.

Japanese: Koi No Yokan

This is a rich, nuanced language with so many layers and so many ways to describe people and situations. And of course, it is no wonder that the language has a unique, almost ‘untranslatable’ phrase ‘Koi No Yokan’ which refers to the feeling of meeting someone and knowing you are destined to love them, kind of like a premonition of love.

Kannada: praṇaya

Praṇaya refers to romantic love, that feeling of amore. (and incidentally, my son is named Pranay). I grew up in a little town in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, where the official state language is Kannada. So I learned to speak it, and also read and write it. It is a beautiful language imbibed with sweetness.

Norwegian: forelsket

forelsket. This word has a very specific meaning, and refers to that first-love joy, the rush one experiences when they first begin to fall in love!

Portuguese: saudade

saudade. This is a beautiful word with no direct translation in English. While it is described as nostalgia of sorts, I think the Portuguese writer Manuel de Melo describes it best: “a pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy.”

Spanish: querido

querido means sweetheart. And I do love the sound of this word!

Tagalog: kilig

kilig. This refers to that excitement, that feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you see someone you, well, love! It sounds like a fun word to use for that specific feeling 🙂

Tamil: aṉpu

aṉpu. This simply means love, and with a slight twist, can mean sweetheart or darling when we say aṉpe

My mother-tongue is Tamil, and while I speak it well, I only started learning to read and write it as an older teen (and my expertise in reading/writing it is still at an elementary school level. One of my goals for this year is to get better at it)

Welsh: cwtch

cwtch (plural cwtches). This vowel-less Welsh word means a hug or a cuddle, or more specifically, is used to refer to embracing someone to make them feel safe and loved.

Yaghan: mamihlapinatapai

Yaghan is now an extinct language that was spoken by the indigenous Yaghan people of Chile. It was considered a language isolate – a language that cannot be classified into larger language families. It had only one native speaker, Christina Calderon, who died less than a year ago, at age 93. .

And the Yaghan love word for you is mamihlapinatapai. The word itself made it into the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records for being the word’s most succinct word, and it has many interpretations, one of the most popular being ‘a look between would-be lovers, each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire but which neither wants to begin’

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, what are the beautiful love words that would find their way in your list? Any specific love word that you cherish the most (in any language)? I would love to hear your favorite words for love. Which of these words did you like?

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